How to make the most out of live chat

Imagine you’re juggling—you’re doing just fine with three balls, but then someone throws in a fourth, and then a fifth. Pretty soon you’re trying to keep seven multicolored balls going, and a blurry rainbow begins to form before your eyes. You miss a beat and all seven balls crash to the ground. Now imagine attempting to juggle seven different chats in real-time, where speed and efficiency are imperative. Things can get messy quickly and missing a beat (or a chat request) can lead to upset customers.

Most customers prefer chat to email—why wait for a response via email when a question can be answered within minutes on live chat? As more and more customers expect support via live chat, it’s important for businesses to not only juggle live chats, but exceed chat expectations, whether it be via web or mobile.

Here’s how you can make the most out of live chat:

Declutter your workflow
With customers reaching out across multiple channels it can be difficult to keep track of all your conversations, deliver quality service, and still grow your business. It’s crucial to have a system that organizes channels like live chat and keeps track of every request or query that comes in. That way you don’t have to worry about losing a customer in the shuffle. Managing web, mobile, and in-app channels might seem daunting, but the Zendesk Chat and Zendesk Support integration puts all your customer conversations in one place; you can easily switch between all your channels, including chat, phone, messaging, and email to offer uninterrupted support on the channels your customers prefer.

Be mobile ready
Customers use mobile more than ever to reach out for support. By adding live chat to your mobile app, you can meet your customers wherever they happen to be—whether they’re at dinner, the gym, or mid-grocery run. Foodpanda recently launched Zendesk Chat support via their mobile application. Using Zendesk’s developer-friendly Mobile SDK to integrate chat, Foodpanda was able to keep their customers in the native app and product experience and offer a seamless support experience. Mobile users can receive the same great support they experience online.

Proactively engage

When 83% of online shoppers need support to complete a purchase, it’s important to consider proactive customer engagement. Live chat gives your company a chance to reach out to customers first, so you can head off potential problems that might contribute to customer churn. It also enables you to get more personal with your customers and reach out with things they actually care about. With Chat, you can see the pages your website visitors browse and then proactively reach out when you sense they might be having trouble; no more shots in the dark. You can also automate the process by using proactive triggers that target customers who are stuck on specific pages, like the checkout page.

Make an impression
More often than not, appearances matter. It’s important to be able to do your thing, let your colors fly—whatever it takes to get your brand on your chat widget so your customers know who they’re talking to. With Chat customization options like layouts and themes, you can create a unique chat experience for your customers and leave an indelible impression.

Analyze chat and agent activity
Analytics are crucial for better understanding your customers. Live chat offers an opportunity to gain insight into trends so you can anticipate customer needs and better serve your customers. Wondering why your company’s live chat wait times have gone up, or why your CSAT has dipped? Zendesk Chat overlays metrics like missed chats versus wait times, or chats served versus customer satisfaction, instead of just giving raw data, to better spot trends and improve your support organization. Chat also allows you to monitor live data on agent productivity and performance, so you can make informed decisions on things like staffing and assignment.

It’s crucial for customers to be able to reach your business in real time, and across multiple channels, including web, mobile, or in-app. Live chat can seem daunting, but with the right software, you don’t have to worry about juggling acts, or dropping the ball on your customers. Instead, you can focus on crafting a unique, seamless experience for everyone that interacts with your business.